I can do anything. . .

. . . that is what I like to tell myself.

I am a do-it-yourself project girl.  I blame it on my husband.  He is too optimistic by far and his confidence in his own abilities tends to rub off on me.  There is something really great about the phrase, "I did it myself."  All that ego tends to go to one's head.

Which is what led the two of us to rip out our carpets and lay our own hardwood floors.  I had a vision. . . and Rob was tired of staring at the torn up, ink stained carpet in his office (Thanks to a five pound ball of white fur).  After two days of installing the wood and 12 hours of sanding it plus the old wood floors, we anxiously put wood to stain.

Never mind that we had heard horror stories about how hard it is to get good results with really dark stain.  Never mind that we had never done this before.  Never mind that we could be embarking on a disastrous course that could ruin our floors. . .wait, let's not never mind that last one.  

After staining a test portion (under the fridge)  we got scared.  Dark stain was hard.  We had never done this before.  We could be ruining all our hard work.  

So we called in an expert.  He arrives tomorrow.

On the upside we will still have saved money. . . a lot of money, doing what we did, but part of me feels like we failed.  We can no longer claim "We did it ourselves."  

So I went and painted my laundry room.  Painting I can handle!  

I feel more in control already.

For more pics or details of our project and plans, go here.